TECHNICAL UPDATE 4 FACTORS DELAYING DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION IN CONSTRUCTION While digital transformation offers the promise of greater efficiencies and productivity, adoption has been especially challenging for the construction industry. Digital transformation is on the radar for the majority of construction companies. Today, 71% of construction companies say digital transformation is a priority, according to the March 2022 Digital Transformation in Construction Survey conducted by the National Association of Women in Construction (NAWIC) and Safe Site Check In. While digital transformation offers the promise of greater efficiencies and productivity, adoption has been especially challenging for the construction industry. Yet in an October 2021 survey of construction professionals conducted by Dodge Construction Network, only 15% have implemented a digital transformation strategy. What’s the disconnect? One explanation is the complexity of the ecosystem—owners, designers, builders, and insurers, all have to participate in digital, voluntarily or not. A second is that fast moving projects generally get priority over IT infrastructure projects. And a third explanation is the cultural divide between the building trades and knowledge workers.
blueprints, scope the project, estimate ROI, estimate supplies and staffing needs, fund, build, inspect, repair defects, handoff to the project owner, and then move on. Ideally, the team achieves a profit above its overhead burden and is duly rewarded. With digital transformation, you look at organizational processes (the blueprints), scope a promising opportunity for efficiency and ROI, estimate supplies (technology) and labor, then build. You negotiate the punch list with your internal customers— departments like finance or HR, and project operations—before deciding whether to put the new digital process into broad use. The sequence repeats itself and adoption may be spread out over time. The failure to budget for the iterative nature of digital transformation programs is why, too often, contractors give up before they realize any ROI. Today’s construction workers are ready for digital transformation. In fact, 95% say new technologies designed for the construction industry make them more productive, according to the NAWIC survey. While every contractor will have their own path to digital transformation, the framework for success comes down to the following:
Building Buildings vs. Building Software When you build a building, you begin with the structure’s
Assembling a transformation team with personal characteristics such as knowledge of cross business functions, personal
SMACNA NATIONAL CONVENTION September 11-14, 2022
© Can Stock Photo / SeanPavonePhoto
Today, we’ll focus on a simple truth about digital transformation— it’s not a project. It doesn’t have a defined beginning and end, much less a fixed budget. Instead, it’s a journey that requires on-going investment. This is contrary to the way construction works in that building projects start and end while digital transformation is ongoing.
1. Identifying Agile Leaders Privately, many construction executives acknowledge that a generational transition to a younger generation is necessary to fully effect digital. But perhaps this is overstated: Construction’s complex ecosystem of owners, designers, builders, financers, and professional services makes business process measurement difficult for smart managers of any age, even if they can bridge the gap between HQ and projects.
The 2022 SMACNA National Annual Convention is being held in person September 11–14, 2022, in Colorado Springs, Colorado. This year will be different in many respects, yet we will find comfort in the high-quality networking and educational experience members have come to expect. Visit smacna.org/learn/events/ calendar/2022-smacna-annual-convention for more information. www.sheetmetaljournal.com • Spring 2022
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